About Charles Shumway

Charles Shumway, son of Samuel and Polly Shumway of Sturbridge, Worcester county, Massachusetts was born 1 August 1808, in Oxford, Worcester County, Massachusetts. He joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Illinois in 1841, and soon afterward moved to Nauvoo, where he took part in defending the city as a police officer.

When the exodus of 1846 began, he was the first to cross the Mississippi River. His wife, Julia Ann Hooker Shumway, died at Winter Quarters. Selected to leave with the pioneer company, Charles received permission for his son Andrew to accompany him, arriving in the Great Salt Lake Valley on 24 July, 1847. After completing the journey, he was one of three assigned to have plows and drags ready as land was tilled and planted along City Creek. He went back to Winter Quarters for the rest of his family and returned to Salt Lake City about a year later.

In 1849, he moved to Sanpete, Sevier Co., where he started a gristmill in partnership with Brigham Young. He also built a sawmill in Sanpete and later a sawmill in Payson, Utah Co. He served a short mission in Canada and then moved to Cache Valley to help in its settlement. He settled in Wellsville and then Mendon, both in Cache Co., Utah. During his residence here, a 3-year-old daughter was carried away by Indians and never heard of again.

In 1877, he moved to Kane Co., in southern Utah, and then to Shumway, near Taylor, on the Little Colorado River in Arizona. There he built his last gristmill. He returned to Johnson, Utah, where he died 21 May 1898, at 89 years of age. Charles Shumway served as a missionary to Massachusetts twice; and an LDS High Priest. He was a member of Utah's first legislature. A carpenter and farmer, he was the first emigrant from Nauvoo to cross the Mississippi river.

Marriages and Children

He was married five times:

Julia Ann Hookerborn 28 November 1807 (daughter of Samuel Hooker and Polly Nichols of Sturbridge, married 26 March 1832 at Sturbridge , pioneers July 24, 1847, Brigham Young company)